Abstract

Motivation: In 2014, Oxford Nanopore Technologies (ONT) announced a new sequencing platform called MinION. The particular features of MinION reads, longer read lengths and single-molecule sequencing in particular, show potential for genome characterization. As of yet, the pre-commercial technology is exclusively available through early-access, and only a few datasets are publically available for testing. Further, no software exists that simulates MinION platform reads with genuine ONT characteristics.
Results: In this article, we introduce NanoSim, a fast and scalable read simulator that captures the technology-specific features of ONT data, and allows for adjustments upon improvement of nanopore sequencing technology.
Availability: NanoSim is written in Python and R. The source files and manual are available at the Genome Sciences Centre website: http://www.bcgsc.ca/platform/bioinfo/software/nanosim